Get to know your fruit & veg shop

My local fruit & veg shop sells excellent quality produce. In the past, I used to head straight for the items on my shopping list, but now I've realised the value in knowing the layout of the store well. You see, if you head straight for the red capsicum display, they usually sell for about $8-$10 per kilo. If you go round to the back corner, you can sometimes buy a 1 kg bag of red capsicums for $2-$3.50. That's a substantial saving! Some of the red caps are tinged with green, but they are otherwise fine.

I've also found pockets of the store where they sell marked-down produce. Sometimes it's because they're irregularly shaped, or slightly broken off (e.g. huge field mushroom with a bit broken off), but they're otherwise still good. Sometimes they're slightly bruised or on the verge of going off, so I tend to steer clear of those.

I've noticed they also don't put all the weekly specials out the front of the store, but in various parts.

So if you want to get the most bang out of your fruit & veg buck, other than growing your own vegies, get to know your store's layout well.